Liverpool could face a ban on signing academy players if the English Premier League finds it guilty of illegally “tapping up” a Stoke City schoolboy.

The Times reports that a Premier League investigation is almost complete into allegations that Liverpool offered the unnamed youth player incentives last summer that contravened Premier League regulations.

The dispute reportedly centers around the allegation that Liverpool reneged on an agreement with the youth player to pay his school fees, as Stoke had been doing before the move to Anfield.

Should the verdict find in Stoke’s favor, a fine is possible but a worse possibility is a temporary ban on Liverpool signing players for its academy.

The club is renowned for bringing through academy products into the first team, with Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, both youth team graduates, providing the spine of its team through the past decade.